"It is very likely that a gunpowder charge ignited - whether it was helped is yet to be established. We have no signals and data about external intervention, which means that there is no force impact on the warehouse at the moment."
This was stated to bTV by the director of the separate production at "EMKO" Slavcho Dimiev on yesterday's incident with the fire and explosion in the ammunition warehouse of the company's factory in the area of the village of Belitsa, Tryavna municipality.
"The self-ignition of a gunpowder charge is very difficult and that's why I say - something could have initiated it", he commented.
On Monday, Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev announced that there was an internal departmental vehicle at the scene of the incident, but it has not been confirmed that the fire started from there. In this regard, Dimiev explained: "A vehicle did not catch fire, it was nearby because it had just been unloaded."
He arrived at the scene within 4-5 minutes after being notified of the incident. "We immediately organized the evacuation of all employees. According to the evacuation plan, people reacted extremely correctly, without panic, which practically helped to ensure that there were no casualties," said Dimiev.
According to him, at the time of the incident, there were about 260 people on the entire site with an area of about 640 acres. He specified that the area where the warehouse is located has limited access, as no work activities are carried out there, but materials and finished products are stored. "The warehouse is used for storage and as an operational warehouse, as it is not far from the production premises, which means that property is brought in and taken out of it daily, almost daily," added Slavcho Dimiev.
He pointed out that yesterday morning, finished products were taken from the production premises to this warehouse, which was unloaded from a vehicle owned by "EMKO". "Maybe 5-6 minutes after unloading - maximum 10 minutes, one of the loading group workers returns, sees that smoke is starting to be emitted in the warehouse, and in such situations they act according to protocol and evacuate immediately", explained Dimiev.